Sunday, November 18, 2012 – 7 PM Update – Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
After winning all three Alberta Junior Hockey League Northern Division road games on their first venture north on the Oct. 19-21 weekend, the Canmore Eagles are returning to the Bow Valley with zero points this weekend as they wrapped up their second “three-games in 2 ½ days” road trip with a 5-1 loss to the Whitecourt Wolverines on Sunday afternoon.
Canmore started off their current 1,600 km road trip with a tough 4-3 loss to the Drayton Valley Thunder on Friday night, and fell 3-0 to the red-hot Grande Prairie Storm on Saturday night.
Despite their lack of success on their current road trip, head coach and general manager Andrew Milne wasn’t overly critical with the performance of his team.
“This was an extremely long and difficult trip, we played OK, but not well enough to win,” said Milne. “Playing three road games in two and half days is tough enough, but all three teams we played are fighting for top spot in the Northern Division and are playing extremely well. You need to play your best hockey and have a little luck on your side to win in these three towns, and we didn’t have either this time.
“We did manage to win all three road games on our last trip north, so we are still playing .500 hockey on these physically exhausting trips. We only have one more trip like this for the rest of the season, so the toughest part of our schedule is now over.”
The Eagles (10-10-4) will return to action next weekend when the Camrose Kodiaks (12-11-2) come to Canmore for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday night. The Kodiaks are the only Southern Division team that the Eagles have not played this season.
“I’m looking forward to the next part of our schedule, “ said Milne. “We play seven games in the next 25 days, and six of them are at home, so I think the entire team will enjoy the opportunity to get healthy, rested, and get some good practice time in.
“We’ve played very well at home and have taken 14 out of 18 possible points thus far, so hopefully we can use the next few weeks to make our move up in the standings. Our overall record is pretty similar to Camrose, so these next two games will be a big test for our hockey club.”
NOTEBOOK: Eagle rookie Connor Wilson had the lone Eagle goal in Sunday’s loss in Whitecourt, his 2nd of the season. . . After missing the past three games, Eagle’s leading scorer Steven Phee did return to the lineup on Sunday . . . Twenty-year old netminder Ty Swabb was once again dressed as the back-up to Cameron Barnes. Swabb has missed the past 8 games with a lower body injury. Forward Jeremy Margeson also missed all three road games with a lower boy injury.